[Wikimedia-l] Copyright on Xrays

[Ray Saintonge]

On 08/20/12 10:27 AM, Cynthia Ashley-Nelson wrote:
> In the US, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
> (HIPAA) governs release of medical information, which includes any medium,
> including spoken, written, or electronically stored. This includes videos,
> photographs, and x-rays. The only person legally entitled to release this
> information is the patient or individual holding medical power of attorney.
> You can find more information here: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 5:38 AM, Dan Rosenthal <swatjester at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> As I'm running out the door, two things to point out factually:
>>
>> 1) people who work in U.S. hospitals are very often independent
>> contractors, especially physicians.
>> 2) much medical diagnostic imaging is done on an outpatient basis at an
>> independent imager. Even if the imager has copyright, there's no way to
>> know whether there is a standing assignment agreement or not.
>>
>> Additionally to confuse things, HIPAA mandates access to (but not
>> necessarily copyright in, though I haven't really looked at it) medical
>> records, as well as disclosure and protection requirements.
>>
>> Dan Rosenthal
>>
>>
>>
This US law won't apply if the X-rays are taken at a facility outside og 
the United States.

Ray